


sports

by beeetle



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roller Derby, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, don't need to know anything about roller derby to read, there's only one bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27221065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeetle/pseuds/beeetle
Summary: “Korra, are you crazy?” she asked. “You are not sleeping on the floor. You have another 3 games tomorrow, and the last thing you need is for your body to be angrier at you than it already will be. You take the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor.”“What? No,” Korra retorted. “You’re benching and reffing tomorrow!”“So?”“Um, so, you’re either going to be skating or standing all day! You can’t be doing that if you have a bad night’s sleep-”“Okay, fine!” Asami exclaimed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “How about this; why don’t we just share the bed?”
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato
Comments: 2
Kudos: 170





	sports

“Nice work today, Korra!”

Korra was sweaty, sore and smiling. She had to admit, the thought of playing roller derby without her team was terrifying, but that was easily overshadowed with the fear of missing out on this tournament. It was Republic City’s biggest and best, a perfect way to return from an injury. A whole year sitting on the sidelines had been torturous, and Korra was all too happy to strap on her skates and start again, even if she had lost strength and speed. Luckily, she wasn’t entirely on her own.

Co-ed roller derby had started to find its feet across the nations. Whenever a city couldn’t send a full team away, single skaters from every walk of life would join together as a potluck team, a mish mash of different body types and skating styles that would learn to work together. This year however, they had an advantage.

  
  


“Thanks, Bo. You guys were fierce out there!” she started, removing her elbow pads and tossing them into her bag. “You and Kuvira blocking together? That was insane!”

“Months of practice,” he shrugged, discarding his knee pads and wincing at the scent. “But I’ve gotta admit, it’s super handy that most of us have skated with at least another one or two players on here. Like, you, Mako and I skate together all the time, but-”

“I think she gets the point, Bo,” Mako piped up, running a hand through his helmet hair, in a wasted attempt to tame it.

“Okay, Mr Stoic Star Head!”

Korra snorted under her breath, finally beginning to unlace her skates.

“Gods, I never thought I would miss your bickering,” she chuckled.

“I can’t imagine ever missing that.”

The velvety voice sounded around the corner, as the final member of their crew made herself known. Asami, dressed in the team colours, and fresh from her benching duties, which basically consisted of a solid hour of yelling instructions to the skaters on track.

“Yeah, a year off skates will do that to you,” Korra hummed, moving her bag aside to give Asami room to sit next to her. The four had been a makeshift crew since Korra turned 18, moving out of home to Republic City and finding herself training with the two brothers. Even after the awkwardness of both Asami and Korra dating Mako off and on (and off and on) again, the four soon became inseparable. 

It had been three years since then. With Korra, Mako and Bolin all finding their skating styles by each other's sides, listening to the wisdom of Asami (who held the group’s single brain cell), the four were a force to be reckoned with, both on and off the track.

  
  


“Speaking of ‘off skates’, you all need a bath ASAP,” Asami hummed, nose wrinkled in a wince.

“Already on it!” Bolin gave a mock salute, zipping up his bag and tossing it over his shoulder, joining his brother at the door. “Mako and I will see you two bright and early tomorrow?”

Asami nodded. “Get plenty of rest. Carb load, rehydrate, be here at 8am sharp for warm ups.”

Both brothers nodded, bidding goodbye to the two girls and heading out of the room.

  
  


“Ugh, I think I could sleep for a solid 36 hours,” Korra groaned, pulling off her skates. “So, sorry not sorry if my snoring keeps you awake tonight.”

“Hey, you’re in one bed on one side of the room,” Asami started. “I’ll be on the other side of the room in a separate bed, armed with pillows to throw at you if the need arises.”

“That’s if you can aim well enough to actually hit me,” Korra teased, removing her last skate. 

Asami rolled her eyes, standing as Korra zipped up her bag and offering the brunette a hand.

“Well, snoring or not, I think a good night’s rest will do us both some good,” she remarked, pulling Korra up from the ground.

“Agreed. 8 hours sleep, here we come!”

\---

“What do you  **_mean_ ** you didn’t give us the right room?!”

Apparently, even after 4 games of roller derby, Korra still had enough energy to throw hands at a hotel receptionist. Asami almost felt sorry for them. The pair of them had tried to check into their room, which they had very clearly instructed to have two single beds. However, the booked room had one double bed.

“We booked this room months ago!” Korra exclaimed, and Asami found it far too easy to imagine smoke escaping from her ears. “You’ve known about this request for months in advance, and you  **_still_ ** booked up all the single rooms and lumped us with the one bed?! I swear to the gods-”

“Korra.”

One word and one hand on Korra’s shoulder was all it took for the anger to ease into a simmer. Piercing blue turned back to face her, and Asami could immediately see how exhausted Korra was, both mentally and physically. It had been a big day. She looked to the receptionist with her head held high.

“We’ll take the room, but we’ll be expecting compensation from this place to make up for this,” she stated, leaving not even an inch for argument. The receptionist handed over the room key, stuttering out an apology and promises that neither Asami nor Korra cared enough to pay attention to. 

The pair might as well have blacked out on the walk to their room. Numbly, Asami opened the door, holding it open as Korra carried both of their bags inside. Setting them down, Korra got to work.

The brunette immediately headed to the room’s linen closet, retrieving an armful of pillows and tossing a blanket on top for good measure. 

“Uhh, Korra?” Asami questioned quietly, watching her friend toss the pillows and blanket in the corner of the room opposite the bed.

“You called?” 

“What are you doing?”

“...Isn’t it obvious?”

Korra didn’t look up from her task, fashioning a makeshift nest out of the pillows and folding the blanket the way you would a sleeping bag. The realisation hit Asami like a freight train.

“Korra, are you crazy?” she asked. “You are not sleeping on the floor. You have another 3 games tomorrow, and the last thing you need is for your body to be angrier at you than it already will be. You take the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Korra whipped her head around to look at her friend, standing from the ground as fast as her body would let her.

“What? No,” Korra retorted. “You’re benching and reffing tomorrow!”

“So?”

“Um,  _ so _ , you’re either going to be skating or standing all day! You can’t be doing that if you have a bad night’s sleep-”

“Okay, fine!” Asami exclaimed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “How about this; why don’t we just share the bed?”

Korra went silent. A pause, then a whole minute went by, with the only sound being the air conditioning whirring in the background.

“I-I mean, would you be comfortable with it?” she breathed finally. Asami frowned.

Korra had drunkenly revealed her love for girls to Asami during an off period with Mako. Asami, also drunk, had simply offered a ‘cheers’ in agreement, and the pair had spent the rest of the night pointing out girls they found attractive.

They had been thick as thieves for 3 years, and their sexuality was never something that made an impact on their friendship. Why should it now?

“Well, yeah,” Asami replied. “Would you? Like, we’ve been friends for years, it’d be just like a sleepover, right?”

Asami tried to ignore the image in her mind of what she wished a sleepover between the pair could be like. Limbs intertwined, sweet nothings whispered just for the two of them to know and hear. Lips pressed together and hearts beating in sync.

But they were friends. Best friends; nothing less, nothing more. 

Korra gave a small grin, and the room felt instantly warmer.

“Right,” Korra replied. "Just like a sleepover."

\---

The idea of a row of pillows between them only lasted for a second. Asami and Korra’s lives were too intertwined, too intimate to be separated any longer. While Korra was away, putting every waking minute into isolating herself from her teammates, her friends, her second family, Asami never let her stray too far. During the year that Korra was awaygone, Asami was the only one she spoke to. She sent her love to Bolin and Mako of course, and always asked about them, but Asami was the only one she seemed to be able to bring herself to see on the other side of a camera. Korra wondered if Asami knew why.

After the initial awkwardness of settling into bed together, the two curled up facing one another, reminiscing on the day’s events in breathless whispers. Korra was as animated as ever. She brightly described the moments on track that Asami couldn’t see, as the taller woman watched on, indulging in the sight of her best friend in a tank top and messy bed hair grinning and laughing at things that seemed so insignificant to anyone but the two of them. Hours passed, with Korra’s stories becoming slower, and softer, until they were replaced by snores.

  
  


Asami’s body refused to let her sleep yet. Her eyes were fixed on the sleeping figure next to her and she found herself smiling.The steady rise and fall of her chest, the bags under Korra’s eyes that were much fainter than they were a few months ago, a single strand of hair strewn across her forehead and eyelids.

Asami paused, seeing her hand outstretched towards Korra. Should she? A faint snore left the brunette’s open mouth, her mind likely miles away in sleep. Asami indulged herself to stretch the extra few inches, fingertips brushing across the warm skin of Korra’s forehead and nudging the strand of hair out of Korra’s eyes. 

  
  


She exhaled softly, drawing her hand back into her chest and flipping onto her other side.

\---

_ Please don’t tell me I have to wake up yet _ .

Korra opened her eyes, finding the clock on the wall through foggy eyes and the dark of the room.

It was just after 1am. There was still another 5 hours before she had to even think getting out of bed- what was touching her nose?

Korra looked down, seeing sable strands spread across the pillow they both shared. Wait, when did that happen? And what was under her arm?

It was soft and warm, she couldn’t make it out at first in the dark but she really didn’t want to move if she didn’t have to. She finally looked down. Her arm had been tossed across Asami’s torso, their bare skin sending sparks up her arm from where Asami’s shirt had ridden up. She was holding Asami.

Oh, this was bad.

Korra  _ knew _ that the pair of them sharing a bed was a bad idea, she knew that something like this was going to happen. She should’ve just waited for Asami to fall asleep and then moved to the nest she made in the corner. She’d dreamed of this too much.

Korra slowly raised her arm from her friend’s torso, chest aching at the loss of softness on her skin. At a safe distance above Asami, she withdrew her arm back into her chest. At least, that was the idea.

Asami’s hand clutched Korra’s, squeezing. She was awake now, she had to be,  _ shoot  _ Korra had woken her up, could this get any worse-

“Don’t.”

Korra couldn’t tear her eyes away from the back of Asami’s head, watching it turn and being met with soft green staring right back.

“Did I wake you?” was all she could ask. She could see the faint smile on Asami’s face, and the shake of her head.

“No,” she breathed. “I’ve been up for hours to be honest.”

“Something bothering you?” 

“No more than usual,” she admitted, turning her body to face Korra fully. 

“You always were a light sleeper,” Korra joked softly, unable to fight the grin as she watched Asami smile. “Three years and I know all your secrets, huh ‘Sami?”

Asami diverted her gaze to Korra’s collarbone, trying not to think about the arm slung across her hip, or the warm breath she could feel on her face, or if Korra could hear just how fast her heart was beating.

“Not all of them,” she mumbled. 

Asami could feel Korra’s frown, her hand moving to cover Asami’s bare hip with her sleep shirt before holding her hip once more, her thumb rubbing back and forth across it.

“That’s alright,” Korra mumbled softly. “You’re not obligated to tell me everything. But, if you ever want to tell me anything, I’m here.”

Asami looked up, and found Korra’s warm smile looking back at her. She felt a weight lift from her shoulders and smiled back. 

_ Gods, I’ve missed you. _

“You did?” 

Asami’s eyes went wide. Averting her eyes, she nodded.

“The year you were gone was the longest of my life.”

Korra was silent. The hand lifted from Asami’s hip, tucking a piece of sable hair behind her ears, fingertips trailing down her cheek.

“I hated being away from you.”

Asami looked up, her witty reply dying in her throat after seeing the faint pink dusting over Korra’s cheeks. Korra was the kind of person who would knock you on your ass to tell you that she cared about you, and having her openly talk about them was as rare as flying pigs. The sight delighted Asami.

“Are...are you blushing?” she asked, a grin creeping up her lips. Korra attempted to pull a straight face, but the corner of her lips began tilting up, and Asami smirked.

“You are!” she cried, poking Korra in the ribs. “Oh my gods, you’re away for a year and you come back as a simp!”

“I am not a simp!” Korra defended with a laugh, hands coming up to protect her torso as her friend tickled her.

“Prove me wrong!”

“I’m not!” she managed amidst her laughter. “I just really like you, okay?!”

  
  


Asami reefed her hands away. Silence followed, the weight of what was said falling over the pair. Korra knew she could try to brush it off, add a half hearted ‘as a friend’ onto the end in a measly attempt to save face. But she would be lying. Korra was done lying. She averted her eyes, looking at the empty space on the mattress between them, feeling the divide growing with every passing second.

“I-I mean it,” she mumbled eventually. “You don’t have to feel the same way, I’d frankly think you were crazy if you did, b-but I wanted to tell you. It wasn’t an accident that you were the only one I could call when I was away, because I love Bolin and Mako but not in the way that I love you and-”

A hand on her cheek stopped Korra’s train of thought in a millisecond. It guided her gaze back up, meeting soft emerald green eyes and the most beautiful smile Korra had ever seen in her life.

“I forget how dense you are sometimes,” she hummed, removing her hand from Korra’s cheek and taking Korra’s own with it. Setting it on her hip, Asami shuffled closer with a slight pull from Korra, their bodies falling into place pressed to one another.

“Yeah, well, you love it,” Korra teased, a lopsided grin accompanying her darkened cheeks. Asami’s smile didn’t falter.

“Well, yes,” she breathed. “Because it’s you.”

The unspoken words were as clear as day, and this time the feeling of breath on Asami’s face didn’t cause a pit in her stomach, instead calming her racing heart. It had been years of waiting, hoping, pining after her brest friend. But they were here now, and it was perfect.Their foreheads were touching, hands on hips or on shoulders, two eyes looking at nothing else but each other.

Korra broke the silence with a whisper.

“Can I kiss you, ‘Sami?”

Asami responded with a hand on the nape of Korra’s neck, pulling her in until their lips met.

It was everything Asami had dreamed of and more. Her lips were chapped, she could taste the mint toothpaste and the chalkiness of Korra’s pain medication. Korra’s hands held the small of her back and pulled her closer and she kissed her slowly and softly, letting Asami set the pace, never any slower or faster. She brushed her tongue across Korra’s lip, feeling her hum and opening her mouth in response.

Their lungs fighting for air, they finally pulled away far enough to catch a breath but kept foreheads still pressed together.

“Wow,” Korra breathed, her lopsided grin returning. Asami gave it a quick peck, returning with a smile of her own.

“As much as I love kissing you,” Asami started. “We really should go back to sleep. Bright and early start tomorrow, remember?”

Korra groaned childishly, her grin becoming a pout.

“Fine, but only if that means I can cuddle you.”

Asami chuckled, shuffling closer and tucking her head underneath Korra’s chin, smiling into the skin as she felt Korra’s arms tighten around her, a soft kiss being pressed to the crown of her head.

“G’night, Asami.”

“Goodnight.”

Neither of them know what would happen tomorrow. If they should tell their friends, keep it secret, or focus on the tournament and let things unfold. But wrapped in each other’s arms, it didn’t matter. Within moments, the room was silent once more, except for the breathy snores from the brunette.

Best tournament ever.

**Author's Note:**

> lil something to get me back in the writing groove after finishing my degree. hope you enjoyed!
> 
> for my "this is me (trying)" readers, the next chapter is in the works and will be up soon!


End file.
